40 The Dawn of Another Ascension
Many beams of colorful light shot out from the Milean Family's large estate. The light transformed into the forms of many people in the sky. These were the Saints of the Milean Family.
One middle-aged man stood in front of this group of people. He had a presence noticeably more profound than the others. Shura knew right away that this man was the Saint who had found him that day. All these Saints wore similar purple robes.
Now that he had come into contact and interacted with Saints, he realized that they weren't really any different from any other people he had met before. They were stronger, but that was it. They were still people. What people looked up to and feared weren't the Saints or even their cultivation itself, but the power they naturally wielded.
A sense of disillusionment dawned on Shura. These people will become nothing more than his stepping stones. His destination was much further and higher than this.
"Innumerable sentient beings look up and revere saints. Yet is this all you are capable of? Floating under the boundless sky as tiny little dots and acting like insignificant ants? A Saint should possess the means of a Saint. Let's see if the bunch of you are Saints or not."
Shura held his right hand up over his head. He activated his spatial ring with his mind and a crimson sword appeared in his hand. A massive amount of spirit energy poured into the sword. The energy was condensed inside the sword, and then it shot upward into the sky.
A thin pillar of light immediately connected Shura and the boundless sky. A bloody aura instantly spread outward from the furthest height of the sky. The earlier blue sky turned blood red. The clouds that were floating freely all froze.
"Every action has a consequence. You took the book, but can you keep it?"
The situation had escalated to this level. Shura had never expected things to be like this. At most, he had just wanted to cause trouble to the Saint, there wasn't any malice in his intention at all. But now things had come to this. Maybe true malice wasn't intentional malice, but one borne out of ignorance. He steeled his heart and became ruthless. He could feel that this was what he needed to do to become stronger. He had to fight. And since an opportunity to fight was here, he would take it.
His cultivation was increasing at a supernatural pace all by itself. But a feeling told him that as long as he fought and used his abilities, his cultivation would increase even faster and he could build an even deeper foundation to reach a greater height and a greater world.
Shura trusted his feeling. He would let it loose. No matter what happened after this, everything was for him to get to the highest peak. He would do it and he wouldn't hesitate or be distracted at all.
The Saints who had come up to spectate first started to get anxious. They hadn't expected things to develop to this extent either. This boy wasn't just an ordinary Saint, he was very powerful. Only old monsters who were Quasi-Immortals able to control the power of the world were able to do what he just did.
They wondered if they were going to lose their lives in this crossfire.
The Milean Saints with a long lineage of Saints in their family knew that as soon as this phenomena appeared, they were no match for Shura. They had more knowledge about the different levels of Saint and the level beyond it than normal people. Only Quasi-Immortals were able to create such a phenomenon by their will.
The middle-aged Saint who took the book from Shura was very confused. He had never thought that the little boy he hadn't paid attention to was actually someone very powerful. If he was this powerful, why did he let him take the book? If he could've kept it, why did he let it get taken away? And if so, why was he here now?
"Stop! My family and you have neither gratitudes or grudges, must you force us to fight?" An old voice came out from deep under the ground of the Milean Family estate.
"The crossing of life and death is a normal thing in the world of cultivators. Cultivators are powerful and seek ever greater power. I am simply acting like one and using my powers. Whether we die or live, it doesn't matter. Come out and fight, old man. Dying in battle is better than dying while sitting down in failed cultivation!"
Shura slashed down his sword in the direction of the Milean estate. An invisible wave quickly tore through the sky and headed for the estate.
An equally powerful energy shot outward from the estate and collided with the invisible sword energy and they both dissipated.
An old man with long gray hair and gray eyebrows and beards appeared above the Milean estate. This was the Milean old ancestor, the strongest cultivator in the Milean Family who was in the Quasi-Immortal level.
"Attack me with your strongest attack," Shura said.
The red color of the sky and Shura's sword turned a very deep and dark red. The color of the sky was the same as the color of Shura's sword.
Shura focused all of his energy and strength and understanding of combat into one sword strike and swung down the sword at the Quasi-Immortal.
The pressure and immensity of the sky were mysteriously imbued within the sword strike.
A powerful sword aura shot downward. Before it could reach the Quasi-Immortal it was blocked by a defensive formation, the city's defensive barrier. Colorful lights and symbols immediately appeared all over the city as the city's defensive formation was activated to repel Shura's attack.
An enormous force collided into the city's defensive formation. The lights quickly dissipated and an enormous force swept through the entire city, but this force had already exhausted its momentum earlier. No damage was done to the city or its inhabitants.
The earlier excitement at having mysteriously becoming a Saint and finding out that he was about to move beyond the Saint level was beginning to recede. Shura's mind was becoming clear. He found that he had acted like a drunkard. Was any of this even necessary? He didn't intend to start randomly murdering people and becoming evil. Although he wasn't a lot of things and that left a lot to be desired, he wasn't an evil person.
Shura had exercised his new powers. His cultivation was increasing at a great pace as well. Just like the old man had said, there really wasn't any ill will between Shura and his family. He would end it here. To continue to fight anymore was meaningless.
Shura had comprehended his current strength and had some insight into his cultivation. This was enough. As for the book, it wasn't important to him anymore.
Shura decided to leave. His exit shocked all those present, but none of them had any reason to stop him, nor were they able to.
Young Master Fabre watched Shura leave with a weird expression on his face.
"What the hell did he even come here to do?" he muttered.
The two beauties beside him looked at each other and both shook their head.
…
Shura directly returned to his house. No one had intruded upon it again since he had last been here. The formations were all intact. The only change was that the place was now dusty.
This place was a good place for him to make a breakthrough to the next level. Shura immediately fortified the formation array with his new saint energy and put up even more formation. He must have the best defensive and offensive arrays and formations to protect him and ward off those who don't mean well. The period during a breakthrough was very important to a cultivator after all.
After everything was done, Shura began the process of advancing into the next level.
Shura sat with his legs crossed in the middle of his house. Around him lights and symbols floated. Anything that occurred around his house would immediately be detected and he would be alerted.
The energy in Shura's body began to change. Thoughts disappeared from Shura's mind and his whole being became calm. His body quickly changed.
Shura entered a timeless and selfless state. This period lasted for many hours.
Suddenly, a blurry form of a person appeared in Shura's mind and his tranquility was disturbed. This blurry form than became clear, and he saw a familiar woman. He had dreamt of her in countless dreams.
The energy in his body wasn't entirely Saint Energy anymore. The energy in his body was in a state between that of a Saint's and that of a more noble and powerful being.
Shura focused this energy into his eyes and activated a long-forgotten technique. He looked at the figure of the woman in his mind while simultaneously looking in front of him with his own eyes.
He subconsciously looked up at the roof of his own house. But it wasn't the roof that he was looking, but rather the sky beyond. But it wasn't really the sky that he was looking at either. He was looking at another realm beyond the sky of this realm. The eye technique had made him look at that direction. It had told him to that to see the figure in his mind, he would have to another realm, another higher realm, one higher than the Higher Realm.
Shura dissipated his own technique and continued to submerge in the process of converting his remaining saint energy.
That person still had a place in his heart. Since that was the case, and she was in the same place where he was heading for, then he would go there.
Shura walked out of his house and looked at the sky. The transformation of saint energy was quick, and now it had fully been converted into a new form of a more noble and pure energy.
Boundless warm light streamed down from beyond the sky in response to the change that occurred in Shura's body. The entire city was flooded with this light. The warm color washed everything in its color.
At that moment, hundreds of Saints appeared in the sky of the city. Leading them were seven elderly Quasi-Immortals. Among them was the Quasi-Immortal Shura had briefly exchanged blows with earlier.
They were here to bring down judgment on Shura. Unbeknown to Shura, the Seven Ancient Families had a secret, but a well-known agreement between them.
Whoever provoked and became an enemy of one of the families would become an enemy of all of the seven families. This was the reason why no one had dared to mess with the Seven Families without a good cause.
This large group of cultivators was here to uphold the prestige of the Seven Families and make an example out of Shura. It had been a long time since they were challenged, and they intended to scare away potential adversaries by today's action.
High above the sky, another group of people appeared. There were only five of them, but these five were very strong. They were all clad in shining golden armor. They were Gods who had descended from the Godly Realms in order to intercept and prevent Shura from ascending. Of course, since they were now in the Higher Realm, their strength was greatly subdued by the world.
